Welcome to HVAC-Talk.com, a non-DIY site and the ultimate Source for HVAC Information & Knowledge Sharing for the industry professional! Here you can join over 150,000 HVAC Professionals & enthusiasts from around the world discussing all things related to HVAC/R. You are currently viewing as a NON-REGISTERED guest which gives you limited access to view discussions

To gain full access to our forums you must register; for a free account. As a registered Guest you will be able to:

Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts.

I have a relatively new Weil McLain Gold GV Series 3 gas-fired boiler w/ a Superstore domestic water heater installed in 2001 and located in the basement. The system is a 2 zone (1st and 2nd floor) with Taco 007 circulators and 1" copper pipe is used throughout. There is a Honeywell air eliminator at the 30PSI expansion tank. Baseboard units are used on the living spaces. This heating season,the system has become air bound and I have had to bleed the lines every other day. I have had numerous site visits from 2 different HVAC contractors that can't fix the problem. Even the Weil McLain field rep couldn't figure it out. There are no leaks in the pipes, there are no automatic valves on the system, the coin valves at the baseboard units are all closed tightly, and I have a high quality air eliminator at the expansion tank. Any input would be extremely helpful--Thanks!

how are you getting the air out now? at the baseboards I assume? Try this... do you have boiler drains on the returns? hook a hose to one and open it... take your bypass and open it and blast water thru the system at 25 to 30 lbs just so ya don't pop off the pop off valve... do one then the other.... check your air eliminator too.

Where it sounds like your near boiler piping is correct.I
assume you have persistent gurgling in the pipe,if so its
possible that with the 007 and 1 inch pipe could have your
flow velocity too low and it cant get the air back to your
deaerator.

It could be the location of the pump in combination with a failed air eliminator.Or it could be you air eliminator is not performing properly due to poor piping practices/location of pump in system.I am not familiar with honeywell air eliminator.The best there is out there is spirovent imo. http://www.spirotherm.com/air/ I would also read about "pumping away" http://www.bellgossett.com/Press/Cou...tJan2001-A.pdf

air bound

There's no real shortcuts. Just trying to vent as fast as you're introducing the glycol helps. Let the system set for a short time for the air to get to the high points, bleed and don't turn any pumps on until you get 99% of the air out. Let the automatics do the rest.

Originally posted by airconman I have no problem gettin it in there, just thought ya might have a whiz bang idea gettin the air I'm gonna put in it out of it..... without spendin half a day.

If you have a purge valve on the return try this.
Use two 5 gallon buckets. Pump the glycol out of its bucket into the system and use the other bucket to purge the air into. When the bucket gets close to full, switch the lines and draw from that bucket. You can tell when the airs gone by watching for bubbles from the line in the bucket your purging into. As long as you keep both lines under water/glycol and don't purge faster than the pumps supplying, it does'nt take long.
Little Giant makes a small pump that works great for this and it will only build up pressure to between 12 and 15 #.
I don't know if this is something new to you, but I've found this to be the quickest and cleanest way.
You may still need to do a little bit of purging from the rads depending on the piping arrangement but this speeds up the process.

STEAMFITTER-I incorrectly called the in-linebleeder valves at the baseboard radiators "coin valves". They look like a screw cap at the copper line and you can turn it clockwise or counterclockwise to release air.

MARKWOLF - I had a Spirovent Jr. on the system originally and it was changed out to the Honeywell because we weren't sure if it was working.